2nd Sunday of Lent (March 1). Truly, I tell you

Prepare to Listen.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.  (Jn 1:5)
 
Prayerfully Read John 5:18-24
18For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.  19Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.  20The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.  21Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.  22The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.  24Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.”
 
Prayerfully Wonder
The Jews needed the light, but preferred the darkness.  They wanted to kill Jesus because, they said, 1) He made himself, and 2) equal to God.  Jesus’ response begins with his favorite phrase, very truly, I tell you (vv. 19, 24).  The words are an alert, so listen up, folk.  We need to hear, so that we live it, what he says.
 
His first very truly, I tell you, rejects the accusations.  To say he made himself is “utterly false.  Jesus does not make himself anything, for God makes him what he is.”[1]  He does nothing on his own.  He can only do what the Father does.  That he was equal to God, both is and isn’t correct.  True, Jesus’ power is equal to God, he is able to give life and judge, thus must be honored with the same honor given to God.  Jesus claimed unity with the Father, evidenced “as love and obedience,”[2] rather than equality.  Equality implies there are two beings (gods).  Jesus and the Father are united, one in all they do and say.  It’s this oneness Jesus prayed for his disciples at the end of his life—may they be one as we are one (Jn 17:11).
 
The second very truly, I tell you, is both encouragement and warning.  The warning is for those who, like the crippled man he made well or the Jews who accused him, fail to believe in him.  The encouragement is for those who are unsure, for whatever reason, that God will accept them.  Anyone, says Jesus.  No boundaries, no restrictions.  Anyone who hears his word and believes he was sent from God, has, not one day will receive, but right now has eternal life and will not be judged unworthy.  Right now, they have life.
 
If you believe Jesus’ words, you’ve already passed from death to life.  How then will you live today?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Help me truly live today, Lord, in belief and gratitude for the life you have given me to live in the now.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Listen to Jesus’ very truly, I tell you.
[1] Neyrey, Jerome H.  The Gospel of John.  New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.  2007, p. 107.
[2] Newbigin, Lesslie.  The Light Has Come.  Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.  1982, p. 67.